Fire Starter manufactured articles have been around for many years. In many cases, long-burning flammable materials have very high kindling temperatures or are impregnated with moisture, thereby making them very difficult to ignite. Examples of these materials are charcoal and firewood. In order to ignite these long-burning materials, one must set a fire starter material having a far lower kindling temperature on fire, and place the long-burning material into the flame from the fire starter for a sustained period. Some fire starter materials have a naturally low kindling temperature. Others are easy to ignite due to their size and configuration. Small wood chips, shavings, and particles are easier to ignite than a log. For one example, in order to start a fire in a fireplace, one places paper and kindling wood (usually twigs) underneath the logs. One then sets the paper on fire, the flames from which ignite the kindling wood. The flames from the kindling wood burn under the logs for a sustained period, and the logs eventually ignite. For a second example, in order to ignite charcoal briquettes in a barbecue pit, one pours lighter fluid over the briquettes. Lighter fluid has a very low kindling temperature. However, before the lighter fluid burns away completely, its flame ignites the briquettes.
The U.S. patent prior art is replete with fire starter devices dating back to 1932, or perhaps earlier. Virtually all of these impregnate a solid article with petroleum based hydrocarbons. These devices release potentially harmful fumes when they burn. Often, the fumes impregnate foods that are cooked with the fires that these devices start. Some of these devices emit sulfur and phosphorus when they burn.
It would be desirable to have a fire starter that is manufactured from renewable natural materials. The advantage of such a device is that it is “green,” it would emit no smoke, no petroleum byproducts, no chemicals, and would leave a minimum ash residue. Fires started with such a device would be safer to use when cooking food.